Alchemy Class

Xesh ran the Alchemy classes.

It was, in his own words, one of the more boring jobs that had to be taught. Boring, but essential. Learning to create concoctions was a good still to have under one's belt. It didn't matter if that concoction led to the development of a bomb or a repellent to keep certain creatures at bay, or even to create a small "pick me up" when you needed one.

Speaking of which…

Coughing into his hand, Xesh just watched as one of his students started running laps around the classroom, speaking so fast that they might as well have been talking gibberish all together. "Now then." He began. "What did we learn this time?" No one said anything, just continuing to watch their sibling run raps for a minute before someone slowly raised their hand. "Nicole."

"Don't overdo it with Nitroshrooms when making an energy drink." She stated as Xesh walked forward, grabbed the running child by their collar and hoisted them up before knocking them out with a chop to the back of the head.

"Exactly." He walked over to Vincient, who was acting as his co-teacher and handed him the unconscious child. Vincient didn't need any words before walking off, carrying the unconscious child out the room and towards the nurse's office. "Nitroshroom's may very well be nature's adrenaline shot. Using Alchemy, hunters can concentrate everything into a liquid shape and use it as a pick me up in times of need." He coughed as he walked over to the now absentees station and lifted the concentrated nitroshroom. "Problem is, with how concentrated the stuff gets, you need to distill it otherwise you'll be running around like Zack was just seconds ago." He took a sip. "This isn't remotely distilled enough." He stated. "This could have a hunter running around in circles for the next three hours." He grumbled as he walked back to his desk and set the vial of nitroshroom down on it. "One of the best components to distill liquid nitroshroom is honey, which Zack did not use enough of." He sighed as he dipped a spoon into some honey before dropping it into Zack's concoction and started to stir it in. "All that said, what Zack did wasn't necessarily a bad think, sometimes you need that extra "jolt" to jumpstart your system, in fact there are some hunters who take this stuff like this when their backs to a wall, but at your age right now, this could potentially kill you." He took another sip before adding in some more honey. ""Understand."

"Yes."

"Good."

Study Hall

"What attributes are attributed to a Temnoceran?" Alan asked as he looked at his text book before turning to his students, watching them flip through their notes for a moment. Someone raised their hand after a few moments. "Erza."

"Temnoceran are characterized by their arachnoid like characteristics." She stated as she looked at her notes. "Like their multiple eyes, ability to produce silk and their six limbs."

"Correct." Alan stated with a smile. "The latter is also something they share with Neopterons or Carapaceons, but there are traits that help you differentiate them. For example Carapaceons resemble crustaceans like crabs and lobster and scorpions. In fact they're evolved from such creatures into what we know now." He stated before taking a breath. "Speaking of which, on the Ecological Tree, what is the name of the Order, Temnocerans belong to?" Someone else raised their hand. "Zack."

"Chelicerata."

"Correct. Now going down that line what is the Superfamily, and Family names granted to them." Someone else raised their hand. "Nicole."

"There is no superfamily." She stated. "But the Family they do exist under is called Scylla."

"Correct." He smiled as he coughed into his hand. "Now what is one of the most dangerous traits of a Temnoceran?" He looked around for a moment. "Oliver."

"Their poison."

"Surpringly no." Alan stated as he waited a minute longer. "Temnoceran poison is as lethal as any poison, and antidotes can be made and applied to mediate its effects, but not all of them use poison." He looked at his students. "Anyone else want to take a guess?" They stared down at the text that was in front of them before several hands went up. "Nail?"

"The cloak."

"Very close." Alan nodded his head in approval. "For those that don't understand what he means, most Temnocerans wear a "cloak" of sorts; this cloak can be made from wrapping their own silk around them to form a layer of flexible yet natural armor, others use the hide of other creatures like Gypceros. In doing so it not only grants them protection but also a level of camouflage." He explained. "Now does anyone else want to take a guess?" Hands went down. "To be honest it's a bit of a trick question. You see, there are actually two real dangers related to Temnocerans. First is they breed in numbers, dozens at a time, and most times when they take people captive it's to feed their young, who are sometimes born after being incubated in a human body for a short while. Second and the real kicker - is that they often nest near each other and travel in hordes. Not hunting packs of threes or four, we're talking 50, maybe 60, sometimes hundreds at a time." He frowned at a bad memory. "That's why hunters don't like dealing with them that often. It's a party of 1-to-4 against what may very well count as a Rampage." He saw someone raise their hand. "Nicole, questions?"

"But aren't there reports of Hunters finding Temnoceran's being alone?"

"Actually yes; there are reports of such encounters, and that's when they're easiest to hunt down. When they're alone, it often means that they've gone solo due to either losing their territory and family, or they're females searching for their own slice of land to lay claim to and make a nest." Someone raised their hand. "Gales."

"You said that they're eggs hatch after they've been incubated in a human for a short while." The youth spoke up. "So, how often do they lay eggs?

"That is a good question, and one I can't accurately answer." Alan confessed. "But I can say this, in their lifetime they can lay up to 10 to 20 egg sacs, with each sack carrying between 150 to 300 eggs." He didn't relish in the surprised look on his student's faces.

"Wait… what?"

"Yes. 150 to 300 eggs, if left unchecked they can overrun an ecosystem easily. Thankfully their numbers get culled often. Not just by monsters or hunters, but by their own kind."

"They eat each other!?"

"Yes, when they're young and there's no food to divide amongst each other, they will cannibalize their kin in order to survive. In such cases their numbers can be cut down to half by their own actions, but those that survive grow to be the problems we have to face in the field." he released a hollowed laugh. "Still, I gotta tell you, I hate dealing with temnocerans, I don't give a damn what size they are. I fucking hate those bastards. "

Playground

"Fireball!" A kid screamed not long after the words were spoken.

"Stop throwing those at me!"

"Start dodging!" Was the response they were given. Looking on, Ashe just released a small sigh as she stared at the sight and leaned back against a stone. Once again the "Playground" was in use, the children running about as they tried dodging the watersacks their teachers aimed at them.

"Enjoying your morning?" Glancing to the side Ashe caught sight of Irene walking up to her a massive walking stick that both knew she didn't really need as of yet.

"Ah yes, nothing starts my morning like the sound of children screaming." Irene resisted the urge to roll her eyes at her companions' words as she took to staring at the children with her, letting a comfortable silence pass between them. "So, what's up?"

"I wanted to talk to you about something." Irene stated as she felt her smile tighten. "Erza came up to me yesterday morning. She's worried about something."

"Ok, but you sure I should know this? She's your daughter, Irene."

"It's about Gales." The silence grew a bit more tense as Ashe glanced at the woman. "He's having nightmares again."

"All kids have nightmares."

"Not like his." Irene grumbled. "I went to observe him last night and -"

"You watched him sleep?" Ashe sounded more amused than appalled at Irene's confession, who quickly gave her a glare.

4"I found him talking in his sleep. And I don't mean regular talking; it's guttural and deep, more like some kind of animal mocking human speech than anything…" She whispered before crossing her arms. "And it… was almost like it was chanting." She confessed. "Soon as it was done he snapped awake in a confused haze and started crying. I managed to calm him down but…"

"Is that so." Ashe muttered as she stared at Gales who seemed to be having the time of his life trying to dodge watersacks. "Hard to believe… that's happening again."

"You know what it is."

"No." Ashe muttered. "Alan and I noticed the same thing happens to him every now and then. First time it happened he was still a baby and it freaked me the fuck out." Ashe muttered. "It's… I don't know what it is, but it's weird. I'll observe him tonight and see if whatever it is is getting worse or not."

"It can get worse?"

"Everything in this world can get worse." Ashe whispered as she kept her gaze focused on Gales for a moment longer. "It's hard to believe he can still smile like that and still go through whatever's going on with him."

"He tries to hide it, but…" Gales took a watersack to the face as he went down and laughed. "You know it's almost time too…" Ashe was grateful for the change of subject, putting a hand on her cheek before sighing.

"The Trial of the Wilds…" Ashe muttered. "It's hard to believe they're already 13." She admitted. "Time sure flies when these kids leave you busy." Smiling the woman started counting the number of kids in the playground as Irene glanced at her.

"50." She stated. "50 to take the trials."

"Ah~" She said no more.

They started with 75 children, but only 50 children were on the playground today. Only 50 had made it to this point, and they'd witnessed the lighting of 25 funeral pyres over their short lifetime. They'd watched as 25 of their brothers and sisters burned; and in turn they cried, they mourned, and gave a prayer to those who wouldn't be there tomorrow.

At the very least, the training for a Hunter is arduous, back-breaking, and typically "sink or swim"; and surviving that level wasn't necessarily easy even with their naturally robust physiology. Not everyone aspiring to be a Hunter survived it - even if the methods used were typical of the Hunters guild, and even if they did, not everyone who wore the title of Hunter survived in the wilds.

That was an unfortunate reality of the world.

"How many do you think we'll lose to the Trial?"

I don't know." Irene watched as Ashe stood and stretched for a moment. "And to be honest I don't want to think about it."

"You don' want to think of your daughter dying." Irene stayed silent as Ashe put a hand on her shoulder. "I don't want my son to run the risk of dying either."

"But it's what we do." Irene watched Ashe pick up a watersack and toss it between her hands. "We prepare the young to confront those that lay ownership to earth, sea and sky." Irene mutters. "It is our way."

"Fraid so." Ashe tossed the watersack one more time before reeling back.

Someone screamed.

"You know you're supposed to yell fireball correct."

"I know." Ashe replied.

"Someone get a medic!"